


Hey, Hey, Calm Down; They Can’t Hurt You Anymore

by anidalah



Series: Kim's Life is Strange Drabble Compilation [5]
Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Homophobia, M/M, drabble challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-08
Updated: 2017-05-08
Packaged: 2018-10-29 09:06:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10850826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anidalah/pseuds/anidalah
Summary: There were only a few places that Nathan ever truly felt safe.  Typically, his room in the Prescott Dormitory was one of those places but that got robbed from him.





	Hey, Hey, Calm Down; They Can’t Hurt You Anymore

There were only a few places that Nathan ever truly felt safe.  Typically, his room in the Prescott Dormitory was one of those places but that got robbed from him.  It was only a few hours before that he’d felt like he owned that school, that he was a powerhouse there, a force to be reckoned with.  But now he felt like he never wanted to go back to that place.

At no point did he ever think it would be a good idea to come out in high school.  Sure, he wanted to.  Wanted to be out and proud, loud about it but he knew it needed to stay under wraps.  Being gay in a little hick town was a fate worse than death, honestly, so he never planned on being out while going to Blackwell.

But that choice was ripped away from him.

Fortunately, it wasn’t by someone finding out about his relationship with Mark Jefferson, thank GOD, because that would’ve been an even messier situation.  It was pictures with him and someone else that got leaked.  It was funny, because he didn’t even remember that guy’s name.  Maybe he’d never even learned it.  It was just a random Grindr hookup so it wasn’t like it mattered.  It was out in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night.  He didn’t even know there were pictures taken, much less who took those pictures.

It didn’t really matter, though.  His reputation was shot.  The respect he had was gone.  He had slurs thrown at him all damn day.  He’d gotten into no less than three fights, maybe more.  It was all such a blur.  So he headed to the only place where he knew he’d be truly safe.

Nathan didn’t know how long he’d been in the Dark Room, sobbing on the couch, when someone finally came to join him.  He remained on the sofa, not bothering to move when he heard the door open.  There was only one person it could be.

“I thought I’d find you here,” Mark said.  “I’ve been trying to reach you on the burner phone for hours.  I heard what happened.”  He didn’t ask if Nathan was okay.  Nathan was fragile, really, and just tried to have an air of arrogance.  That’s why he’d taken Nathan to be his protegee.  He’d be easy to twist around.  He never accounted for the possibility that Nathan would find a way into Mark’s heart, that eventually their relationship would turn into a different kind of fucked up.  After all, Mark had no issue hurting Nathan; someone else hurting Nathan, though.  That got Mark _furious_.

So he settled beside Nathan on the couch, pulling the sobbing boy onto him.

“Hey, hey, calm down. They can’t hurt you anymore.”

Nathan glommed onto Mark, his crying becoming just a little less hysterical.  Arms tightened around him and he felt completely safe.  Maybe he shouldn’t.  He knew how Mark could get with his temper, how volatile Mark could react when pissed off or during a photo shoot.  There were at least certain things that Mark would never make him feel bad about.  Like his mental illness.  Like the fact that he was gay.  Mark would never call him the f-slur.   For that reason alone in that moment he allowed his guard to come down, because even though Mark hurt him, Mark would never hurt him like that.


End file.
